I only cry when I see you Pt.1
by Vincent2
Summary: Ryo-ohki gets Tenchi? You have to read this to beleive it!


I only cry when I see you (Part 1)  
  
Disclaimer: Any Tenchi characters in this fic  
  
belong to AIC and Pioneer. If there are any  
  
characters that you have not heard of, they are mine!  
  
Any legal letters sent to claim money will be filled under "I" for important…right in the pail!  
  
  
  
From the files of Professor Washu, the Greatest Scientist in the Universe!  
  
  
  
Subject: Ryo-ohki:  
  
Height: 8 inches long/4 inches at shoulder  
  
Weight: 2 lbs.  
  
Color: Brown fur with white "socks" on feet  
  
Eyes: Golden-brown  
  
Other Features: Enormous catlike ears filled with white fur, oval red gem embedded in forehead just above and between eyes.  
  
Personality: Well…that could take some explaining…  
  
Personal notes: I originally intended Ryo-ohki to be a prototype in a series of attempts so build the ultimate warship in case I ever found myself in a bad situation. But then…I guess I found that maybe violence wasn't the only purpose for this creation. Something deep inside of me just told me to find another reason for its existence. Because of this 'inner feeling', I made a few modifications to the original design and came up with the present form. As of late however, I decided to improve on the design and add a few new features in…but this I fear was one of my greatest mistakes. I suppose an explanation would be in order, it all started six months ago, I was in my lab looking over a few equations…  
  
  
  
It was a Tuesday afternoon and Tenchi was out in the field working in the carrot patch. Aeka and Ryoko had sat down to watch a program they had grown quite fond of…to me; it was nothing more than gibberish. As always, Sasami was in the kitchen getting lunch ready and Mihoshi had once more fond the day to be so glorious that she felt that a nap was in order. Ryo- ohki however had found her way to my lab and had been at my side a majority of the day. As I sat there working on some equations regarding hyper matter and its applications to time bending, I was interrupted by a familiar sound emanating from the floor. It was Ryo-ohki with her familiar whimpering.  
  
I looked over to the little critter and asked what was the matter. Naturally, she responded in the only way she could, with more whimpering. It took me nearly half an hour to figure out that she simply wanted to be petted around the ears. I could only think of how much time I had just mismanaged to determine a simple need like that. And it was then that a brilliant thought occurred to me, at least it was rather brilliant at the moment. The thought was how great it would be, as well as time saving, if Ryo-ohki could speak and think on our level and communicate more effectively.  
  
I wasted no time in constructing a device which would enhance Ryo- ohki's intelligence to that of a normal sentient being, capable of speaking ones thoughts, emotions and otherwise. After several days of continuous labor, failed attempts and numerous missed tea times, my hard work had paid off. Before me stood yet another of my great scientific accomplishments, perhaps even my greatest, or so I thought. The machine itself was rather simplistic in design, a little over six feet tall and four feet wide. It was cylindrical in shape and had few wires attached to an outside source.  
  
The principal was basic; it would stimulate growth of multiple neural stems across the cerebellum thus enhancing the thought process and speech abilities of said subject making it more able to express whatever thoughts were occurring at a particular moment. With Ryo-ohki, the matter was already there; it was just a matter of giving the neurons a bit of a push so to speak to work harder. One thing troubled me though, I realized with Ryo-ohki, the door could swing both ways, either she would be gifted with the speech of an adult, or that of a small child and would have to be taught from scratch. After much thought, I decided to add to the speech enhancer with a bit of my own intelligence which I felt would help her along in case if her speech was not fully developed. This however, proved to be quite a mistake indeed.  
  
After copying some of my intelligence into the data files, I powered up the machine and waited for it to reach full capacity. I turned to Ryo- ohki and looked her in her eyes; she simply looked back at me and had no idea what was in store for her. As the machine reached full power, I opened the door to the chamber as a slow hiss of air found its way out of the tube. She simply looked at me and then at the tube, and then back to me again. She wasn't ignorant; she knew that it was meant for her to enter. Reluctantly and with a slight whine, she hopped over to the chamber and as she proceeded to enter, she turned to me once more. I gave her as warm of a smile as possible and then the door closed behind her.  
  
I began to input the program and the machine took over. After a moment, the machine hummed and buzzed slightly and then began to whir as the device ran its course. After five minutes, it was done, and Ryo-ohki would never be the same again. She hopped out of the chamber and as I walked over to her, I could tell it had been a success. I looked her in the eyes again and there was a different look about her, one that cried out that there was so much she wanted to say, and now she would have the chance, and for this she was happy. Now, to let the others see what would be a new addition to the families chatter everyday.  
  
I began for the door and I noticed she was still sitting there looking around and at me. "All right, come on now, breakfast is ready, it would be pretty rude to make them all wait for us, yes?" Again, she simply stared at me, but what happened next would reassure me that the experiment had been a success. Ryo-ohki looked at me and as she began to move her mouth, I could almost swear it resembled words of some sort. She tried a few more times and then it happened, "…yes…it would…be…rude…" I was so proud of her that I picked her up and squeezed the little critter tightly. "Good, now let's go show the others"  
  
At breakfast, it was the usual, everyone at their seats, Father with his coffee as he was getting ready to leave for work, Mihoshi who too was hurrying with her breakfast as she was readying to go on patrol and of course Aeka and Ryoko who were sitting on opposite sides of Tenchi and up to their usual bickering. I cleared my throat as I pushed aside my lovely daughter and took a seat next Tenchi, this of course upset her. "Huh…hey, what's the big idea?" She tried to protest but I insisted that she take another seat, preferably next to Ryo-ohki. "Yeah great, next I suppose you'll want me to talk with her as well?" There was a moment of silence "…that would…be nice…" A slight look of confusion came across Ryoko's face as she looked around to see where the voice had come from. She couldn't quite place it, but it sounded very familiar.  
  
"Um…down here…heh heh" Ryoko slowly turned and began looking downward as a bead of sweat came across the back of her head. As she eventually came around, she found herself looking right into the eyes of you know who. "Uh…was…that just you?" She asked while pointing a finger at Ryo-ohki "Yes…it was…so how are you today…" Immediately Ryoko and everyone else around the table simultaneously fell over in disbelief. I simply sat there and continued my breakfast as everyone regained their composure. "W-when did you learn how to talk? Washu, is this another one of your damn tricks, cause if it is…"  
  
"Settle down you…" I spoke, as I tugged at her cheek "Its no trick" I got up and walked over to Ryo-ohki and picked her up and held her in my hand. "Everyone, I want you to meet the new and improved Ryo-ohki!" They all stared and gawked as Ryo-ohki began to tell them what a great day it was and how she was going to need sometime to get used to this new change in her life. Sasami was the first to actually show signs of comprehension over all this and raced over to hug Ryo-ohki "Oh…I'm so happy, now I can finally talk to you and understand what you're saying…thank you Washu…this is so wonderful" I smiled as she took her now speaking friend into the kitchen as they began talking about all sorts of things. If only I had known how short lived the little princess's joy was to be…  
  
Father cleaned up most of the coffee he spat out during the initial shock and after adjusting his tie he went off to work. Mihoshi was still in a daze, but with her what could you expect, soon though she made her way to her ship and was off on her patrol. Aeka and Ryoko both walked Tenchi to the door as he was on his way to school today for the first time in quite a while as the repairs to the damaged sections of the school, courtesy of Tenchi's initial meeting with Ryoko, where finally completed. As he was leaving, he turned to say goodbye to Sasami and nearly forgot Ryo-ohki "Oh…goodbye Tenchi, have a great day in school" She had taken her child form as she ran over to wave goodbye to him. As he left he couldn't help but notice how odd this was and how much time it would take to get used to this.  
  
As everyone went about their daily routines, I looked over Ryo-ohki one last time and when satisfied with a job well done, headed back to my lab. "Now Sasami, please go easy on Ryo-ohki, she still has some adjusting to do…no lengthy conversations, got it?" Sasami gave me a cute little salute "Yes ma'am, you can count on me" She really was an adorable child, and it was never my intention for her to be hurt by any of this. Both Sasami and Ryo-ohki went into the kitchen to clean up after breakfast. "So Ryo- ohki…how does it feel to be able to talk now?" She blinked and looked at the Princess "What do you mean, I was always able to talk…but no one could understand me…only Ryoko…" "Huh…hey you're right…but now we can all understand you" She laughed again as she rubbed Ryo-ohkis' furry head and the child playfully laughed along. It was a happy day for the two who were such good friends. They continued to talk about the weather, their favorite TV shows, and what it was like for Ryo-ohki in space and all the while though keeping their conversation simple just like Washu had said.  
  
Then the conversation changed to a different topic, a more involved one. "Sasami…" She turned to the child "What is it Ryo-ohki?" "Well…it's just that…well what do you…" Sasami finished washing the dishes and reached for a towel to dry her hands in and looked to the child who seemed to struggle with what she was trying to say, "…what do you think about…Tenchi?" Sasami put a hand to her mouth as she was rather surprised by this question, and she tried her best to answer "Well…with Tenchi…he's like my big brother…he's really nice, he saved us all from danger a couple of times and he really cares about us" The child looked on but there was still more to her questioning "But…do…you like him?" At that a slight blush came across her face as she slightly giggled at Ryo-ohkis question "Oh…well of course I like him…we all like him...especially my sister and Ryoko…they're always fighting over him and they look so silly doing it" She continued giggling, but Ryo-ohki failed to find the humor in it.  
  
Sasami stopped laughing, "What's wrong?" Ryo-ohki had a look of sadness now "It's just…its just not fair…why does it always have to be this way…" She started to cry as Sasami reached over to comfort her friend "Its all right, you don't need to cry, they really do like Tenchi but he needs to choose for himself who he wants to be with…so don't worry…oh I forgot I have to do the laundry, I'll be back in a little while" Sasami began to run off and Ryo-ohki wiped the tears from her face "No…you don't understand…its not that…its not that at all…" She whispered to herself as she walked outside the house and began walking to nowhere in particular, she needed some time…time to think.  
  
The days passed and eventually everyone got accustomed to Ryo-ohki as a new edition to the family discussion at meal times. There was one thing that bothered me though; I happened to notice that at mealtime, Ryo-ohki would take a seat next to Sasami…that wasn't odd, it was what occurred afterwards that began to trouble me. I noticed that every time when Aeka and Ryoko would begin to fight over Lord Tenchi, Ryo-ohki seemed to lose interest in her meal and seemed to be more interested in the squabbling that was going on. Naturally, we were all used to it, but somehow, she seemed a bit more interested, almost to the point one would think that she had a look of pity for him, and she seemed to be trying to learn and understand what the commotion was all about. But I paid it no attention at the time, and in doing so I allowed the situation to develop into something ugly.  
  
One late night, when no one was awake and all the lights were out, Ryo-ohki found herself walking the house with much on her mind. Though she was tired, sleep was not first on her list of things to do. She kept walking and kept thinking, thinking about all the new things that she had learned and seen, the new conversations and expressions she could have, but above all these, there was Tenchi. She simply couldn't get him out of her mind no matter what, and finally she stopped trying to get him out of her mind. He was a nice person, he had always shown kindness to her and she really liked him, but she had no idea how to tell him how she felt, this was what she had been struggling with for quite some time. And then, by some chance, she found a room, which she had never seen before. It was surprisingly large and she wondered how she had missed this room all this time. As she walked in, she turned on a light and was shocked by the amount of shelves before her, which were stacked full of books that looked like they were meant for light reading.  
  
The child approached one of the shelves and looked at some of the books that lay before her. They seemed simple enough for her to understand so she took a book down and began reading. After she was finished, she suddenly felt like she had come closer to the answer to her dilemma. The title of the book she had just read was 'How does he know I like him', unknowingly, she had stumbled onto Fathers 'secret library' of his personal reading, most of which dealt with romance and topics of that nature. To Ryo-ohki however, they were the answer to all her problems. Without delay, Ryo-ohki burned away the night as she read book after book absorbing as much information on the topic of romance and other related topics as she could. Her mind brooded over these new ideas and expressions and she began to contemplate as to how she could apply this new found knowledge toward her situation.  
  
Finally, as sunrise began creeping its way up to the horizon, Ryo-ohki managed to finish one last book. With a feeling of satisfaction, she closed the book and had a firm look of resolve on her face "I think I understand now" she smiled though she was dreadfully exhausted. Morning was here, and a new day had begun. For one Ryo-ohki however, there was much to be considered, and much to be done, but first, she would need some sleep, then she would begin with her plan to gain the attention of the one she had grown to admire.  
  
  
  
to be continued… 


End file.
